The Bad Ideas Garage

The Bad Ideas Garage Garage:
2021 Mustang Mach E
2017 Mazda 3 GT
2008 Infiniti QX56
1998 Mercedes C43 Ute
1990 Subaru Justy
1990 Miata
1981 Subaru GL EJ22 Swap

09/02/2026

I finally reached the “someone else needs to deal with this thing” stage of Ford Excursion ownership. 😂

The dashboard was apart, the wiring was questionable, and I had officially surrendered it to someone who actually knew what they were doing.

Naturally, it ran and drove just fine to the mechanic.

It knew. I know it did.

Who else has had a project car wait until you gave up before it started cooperating?

08/30/2026

What started as trying to sort out a few problems turned into the gauge cluster coming out, the dash getting torn apart, and me chasing things all over this truck.

At this point I was still telling myself I had it under control. 😂

Would you keep digging, or put everything back together and pretend you never saw it?

New Bad Ideas Garage episode just dropped. 👀The C43 AMG is leaking fuel.Normally that means one thing: fix the leak.Unfo...
08/24/2026

New Bad Ideas Garage episode just dropped. 👀

The C43 AMG is leaking fuel.

Normally that means one thing: fix the leak.

Unfortunately, getting to this particular leak leaves me with a slightly more interesting decision:

Drop the entire fuel tank OR

Cut another hole in the Mercedes I already turned into a ute. 😂

I walk through where it’s leaking, what I found underneath, and why cutting an access panel might actually make a disturbing amount of sense.

So I’m putting it to the internet:

DROP THE TANK or CUT THE AMG?

Full episode is live now on YouTube, link in bio.

08/23/2026

This is never what you want to find behind a gauge cluster. 😂

While chasing problems on the Ford Excursion, I pulled the cluster out and noticed something suspicious:

The theft light was missing.

Then the parking brake light was missing too.

And below that? Corrosion, chewed wiring, and enough evidence to suggest this truck had been through some question things before I ever got to it.

At this point I wasn’t fixing a Ford.

I was investigating a crime scene with cupholders.

08/21/2026

Some people use shovels.

Some people use trucks.

I used an old Subaru because I specialize in questionable landscaping solutions. Apparently. 😂

The shrub needed to go, the Subaru has a bumper built by Jaime Williams and nobody was around to tell me this was a bad idea.

08/18/2026

The Ford Excursion dashboard continues to provide things nobody asked for. 🤢

First we found food.

Then sunglasses.

Then a freaking toothbrush.

And, naturally, mouse p**p. Inside the dash.

At this point I wasn’t diagnosing a Ford anymore. I was conducting an archaeological excavation.

And yes, the mice had also been snacking on the wiring, because living rent-free wasn’t enough.

Every layer of this truck somehow got worse. 😂

The engine-swap reunion.For the first time in quite a while, the C43 AMG Ute and the old Subaru GL were back together. N...
08/17/2026

The engine-swap reunion.

For the first time in quite a while, the C43 AMG Ute and the old Subaru GL were back together. Naturally, with both hoods open.

The Mercedes is now running the 5.4L M113 from an E55 AMG.

The Subaru has an EJ22 swap because leaving anything with the engine it came with is unacceptable around here.

Two completely different cars. Two engine swaps. Two objectively questionable decisions that I’m still pretty fond of.

It was good to have them back together.

08/14/2026

I wish I was making this up.

While taking apart the dash of the Ford Excursion, I found a toothbrush hiding inside it.

Not in the glovebox.

Not under the seat.

Inside. The. Dashboard. 😂

At this point the Excursion has produced food, sunglasses, mouse evidence, questionable wiring… and apparently someone’s dental hygiene supplies.

Every time I thought I had found the weirdest thing in this truck, it proved me wrong.

08/13/2026

Somebody has definitely been inside this Ford Excursion before me. 👀

The farther I get into the dash, the more obvious it becomes that I’m not the first person to go digging around in here.

The gauge cluster has clearly been removed before, the wiring is questionable, and apparently the mice have also been conducting their own electrical work.

At this point I still didn’t know why somebody had been in here.

What do you think they were trying to do?

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